Protesters hold a rally in Seoul, South Korea, 06 June 2026, denouncing ballot paper shortages at some polling stations during the 03 June local elections and demanding a revote. Photo by YONHAP / EPA
June 8 (Asia Today) — A protest blockade outside a vote-counting site in Seoul’s Jamsil area entered its fourth day Monday, as demonstrators demanding a revote over a ballot shortage during the June 3 local elections increasingly raised claims of election fraud.
Until the weekend, protesters had mostly focused on voting rights and calls for a revote. By Monday, however, the atmosphere outside the Olympic Park Handball Gymnasium in Songpa District had shifted, with chants of “election fraud” mixed with demands for a new election.
At about 9 a.m., protesters could be heard chanting “fraudulent election, revote.” South Korean flags were visible throughout the crowd, along with many U.S. flags. Some protesters carried signs reading “Stop the Steal,” a slogan associated with challenges to the 2020 U.S. presidential election results.
One participant who said he had been at the site for four days said the mood began changing Sunday night as the size of the crowd grew and different groups joined the protest.
Police informally estimated that about 1,600 people were gathered near the gymnasium at 11 a.m., down sharply from about 8,000 around midnight. The age makeup also appeared to change. People in their 20s accounted for about 30% of the weekend crowd, while those in their 60s or older made up the largest share Monday morning, at 26.2%.
Tensions also rose among protesters. Some who insisted the crowd should only demand a revote were accused by others of being infiltrators from the Korean University Progressive Union, a left-leaning student group.
A brief scuffle broke out around 10:20 a.m. after six members of South Korea’s under-20 women’s national handball team entered the gymnasium to retrieve equipment stored inside before the World Championship in Shanxi, China, on June 24.
Police asked protesters to allow the athletes to enter. The athletes came out about four minutes later with their equipment, but some protesters tried to inspect the bags, saying ballot papers might be hidden inside. One person even demanded that the athletes remove their socks for inspection.
When another protester tried to stop the inspection, others accused him of being linked to the student group and a brief physical confrontation followed.
Revote seen as unlikely
Legal experts say a revote remains unlikely. Under the Public Official Election Act, a revote would require confirmation of a serious legal violation that could have affected the election result and a court ruling invalidating the election.
Legal observers widely say the ballot shortage may be considered a serious failure in election management, but it would be difficult to treat it immediately as grounds to invalidate the entire election.
The government is also focusing more on determining the facts and punishing those responsible than on discussing a revote.
President Lee Jae Myung expressed regret Sunday over the ballot shortage, saying the people’s right to vote is a constitutional right that must not be restricted or violated for any reason. He ordered a thorough investigation and punishment of those responsible and asked the National Assembly to pursue a parliamentary investigation. He did not comment separately on whether a revote should be held.
A joint investigation team involving prosecutors and police was formed Sunday. The investigation is expected to focus on whether election officials neglected their duties and who should be held responsible for the management failure.
The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s serious crimes unit said Monday it had secured a group chat room used by election workers and was checking the facts with officials and citizens who were unable to vote because of the ballot shortage.
Political discussions on institutional reform are also continuing. Rep. Han Dong-hoon, an independent lawmaker, said Monday he plans to propose revisions to strengthen outside oversight of the National Election Commission and improve management of election commission employees.
Some lawmakers from both ruling and opposition parties have also raised the need for a parliamentary investigation and possible independent counsel probe.
The People Power Party said Monday it will file an election petition, a preliminary step before a lawsuit seeking to invalidate the Seoul mayoral election. The party plans to recruit 63 Seoul residents as joint petitioners by Wednesday and file the petition Thursday.
Iranian exports of oil and condensate sank to the lowest level in at least six years in May, falling below 300K bbl/day, as the U.S. naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz choked shipments and left tens of millions of barrels stranded at
“Ships caught in the Strait due to our amazing and unprecedented Naval Blockade, which will now be lifted, may start the process of ‘heading home!’” Trump proclaimed on Truth Social, referring to the Strait of Hormuz. The strategic chokepoint has been largely closed to most traffic by Iran since not long after the launch of Epic Fury on Feb. 28.
Trump’s comments may reflect a still unsigned Memorandum of Agreement with Iran that paves the way for reopening the Strait and is designed to create negotiating space to deal with the larger issues of Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
“Iran must agree that they will never have a Nuclear Weapon or Bomb,” the U.S. leader added. “The Hormuz Strait must be immediately open, no tolls, for unrestricted shipping traffic, in both directions. All water mines (bombs), if any, will be terminated (we have removed, through detonation, numerous such mines with our great underwater mine sweepers. Iran will complete the immediate removal and/or detonation of any mines that are left, which will not be many!).”
Last month, the head of U.S. Central Command stated that he was deploying uncrewed underwater vehicles (UUVs) to the region for the counter-mine effort. UUVs are a critical part of modern minesweeping operations.
“The Strait of Hormuz is an international sea passage and an essential trade corridor that supports regional and global economic prosperity,” Admiral Brad Cooper said in an April 11 media release. “Additional U.S. forces, including underwater drones, will join the clearance effort in the coming days.”
The Navy has various types of uncrewed undersea vehicles, remotely operated vehicles and an airborne mine neutralization system to perform mine sweeping operations. You can read more about these systems and how they work in our story about minesweepers here.
Trump ordered the blockade on April 13 to create economic pressure on Iran by limiting its ability to export oil or import needed weapons or other materiel.
“As of May 29, 115 commercial vessels have been redirected to ensure no commerce enters or leaves Iranian ports,” CENTCOM said in a post Friday morning about an hour before Trump made his announcement about the blockade.
U.S. forces continue to enforce the blockade against Iran. As of May 29, 115 commercial vessels have been redirected to ensure no commerce enters or leaves Iranian ports. pic.twitter.com/ioKe4A6p7T
Trump did not spell out the mechanics for ending the blockade and CENTCOM declined to say what Trump’s announcement means for the assets arrayed around the region to enforce it. The command referred us to the White House, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It is also unclear why Trump would lift the blockade at such a critical time, before any agreement is signed. According to various media reports, such a move would have been in conjunction with Iran easing its restrictions on Strait shipping. However, Iranian officials have insisted that has yet to happen. In essence, the U.S. lifting the blockade on Iran would do nothing for mariners trapped in the Persian Gulf unless Iran also lifts its threats to attack ships transiting the waterway without its permission.
According to Axios, the memorandum between Iran and the U.S. calls for the following:
The U.S. naval blockade will also be lifted, but that will happen in proportion to the restoration of commercial shipping, a U.S. official said. The U.S. would also issue some sanctions waivers to allow Iran to sell oil freely.
The MOU will include an Iranian commitment not to pursue a nuclear weapon, the officials said. It will also state that the first issues to be negotiated during the 60-day window will be how to dispose of Iran’s highly enriched uranium and how to address Iranian enrichment.
The U.S. will commit to discuss sanctions relief and the release of frozen Iranian funds as part of the negotiations, the publication added.
The MOU will also include a discussion of a mechanism to help Iran start receiving goods and humanitarian aid.
The MOU would also state that the war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon would end — an issue on which Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have had at least one tense discussion.
In addition to stating that he lifted the blockade, Trump also claimed in his Truth Social post that the U.S. and Iran reached an understanding on Tehran’s supply of highly enriched uranium.
“The enriched material, sometimes referred to as ‘Nuclear Dust,’ which is buried deep underground with virtually collapsed mountains, caused by our powerful B2 Bomber attack 11 months ago, sitting on top of it, will be unearthed by the United States (which, it is agreed, is the only Country, along with China, with the mechanical capability of doing so!), in close coordination and conjunction with the Islamic Republic of Iran, plus the International Atomic Energy Agency, and DESTROYED. No money will be exchanged, until further notice,” Trump asserted. “Other items, of far less importance, have been agreed to.”
Iranian officials have rejected Trump’s claims.
“No final understanding has been reached between Iran and the US so far,” according to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)-connectedTasnim News Agency.
“Trump’s post follows his usual pattern of one-sided, self-aggrandizing statements,” the outlet added. “His claims about lifting the naval blockade should be viewed with skepticism—and even if implemented, it would merely mark the cessation of one ceasefire violation, as the blockade should never have been imposed in the first place.”
“Trump’s nuclear claims are baseless, as no details on that issue have been discussed,” Tasnim posited. “His insistence on not releasing Iran’s blocked funds only deepens Tehran’s doubts about Washington’s seriousness.”
No final understanding has been reached between Iran and the US so far, according to Tasnim News Agency.
According to the report, Trump’s post follows his usual pattern of one-sided, self-aggrandizing statements. pic.twitter.com/bRDZfjGT7K
In his post, Trump said that he “will be meeting now, in the Situation Room, to make a final determination,” on the agreement with Iran.
This is a developing story.
UPDATE: 2:36 PM EDT –
Trump “left a two-hour meeting on a possible deal with Iran without making a decision,” The New York Times reported, citing a senior administration official.
The administration “believes it is close to an agreement but there are still certain matters being debated including the unfreezing of funds for the Iranians,” the newspaper added.
NYT: “President Trump’s meeting in the Situation Room lasted about two hours, but the president did not reach a decision on any new deal with #Iran, according to a senior administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity to speak about internal deliberations.
In the wake of Trump’s claims and media reports about negotiations with Iran, some positive economic news is emerging
“Stocks rose in afternoon trading on Wall Street Friday, adding to the all-time highs they set a day earlier,” CBS News reported. “The S&P 500 rose 0.2% Friday. The index is coming off six gains in a row and is headed for a ninth straight winning week, which would be the longest such streak since 2023.”
The Dow Jones Industrial Average “rose 382 points, or 0.8%, as of 12:01 p.m. Eastern,” the outlet added. “The Nasdaq composite rose 0.2%. Every major index is on track for records and to close out May with solid gains.”
Of course, all that could change should talks break down and major hostilities resume.
“U.S. stock markets are surging toward new records as of May 29, 2026, driven by breakthrough reports of a potential $300 billion peace and reconstruction framework between the U.S. and Iran”
The United Arab Emirates “carried out dozens of airstrikes against Iran beginning in the early days of the war and continuing through the day after the April cease-fire was announced,” The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. This represents a “deeper involvement than was previously known in the air campaign led by the U.S. and Israel,” the publication added.
The attacks were conducted in coordination with the U.S. and Israel, both of which provided intelligence, the people said. “They included targets on Qeshm and Abu Musa islands in the Strait of Hormuz; Bandar Abbas; the oil refinery on Lavan island in the Persian Gulf; and the Asaluyeh petrochemical complex” the Journal continued.
During the Iran War, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) carried out dozens of airstrikes against Iran in coordination with Israel and the United States, beginning in the early days of the war and continuing through the day after the ongoing ceasefire was announced, targeting both… pic.twitter.com/FvyIYVw2qk
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf says “Tehran secures its diplomatic advantages through missiles rather than talks,” according to the official Iranian Press TV news outlet.
US President Donald Trump said Sunday that negotiations with Iran are “orderly and constructive” and vowed the blockade will remain in place until a final agreement is reached, Anadolu reports.
“The Blockade will remain in full force and effect until an agreement is reached, certified, and signed. Both sides must take their time and get it right. There can be no mistakes!,” Trump said in a post on his social media platform Truth Social.
He also said US-Iran relations are becoming “much more professional and productive,” while warning that Tehran must not develop or acquire a nuclear weapon.
Trump further thanked Middle Eastern countries for their “support and cooperation,” saying engagement would be strengthened through broader participation in the Abraham Accords, and suggested Iran could one day join the framework.
He criticized the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, calling it “one of the worst agreements ever made,” and again blamed former President Barack Obama’s administration for what he described as a flawed agreement that opened a path toward nuclear weapons development.
Trump said the current negotiations with Iran are “far better” and part of a more effective approach, insisting the ongoing process will prevent Tehran from obtaining nuclear arms.
Eid al-Adha, one of the most important dates in the Islamic calendar, comes at a critical time for Iranians this year.
Meat from sacrificed animals is often eaten at Iranian tables, but a blockade on Iranian ports and sanctions by the US has led to escalating costs across the country.
Unlike Nowruz, the Persian New Year, Eid al-Adha is not as widely celebrated in Iran, but mosques and other institutions still observe the ritual of animal sacrifice, known as qurbani, through authorised livestock and slaughter centres.
Here, animals are sacrificed according to Islamic law in a hygienic environment. But another goal of the network is to control runaway inflation by offering meat at lower prices than market rates.
Meat substitutes
A Tehran municipality body announced on Tuesday that each kilogramme of sacrificial meat would be sold at 7.4 million rials ($4.30) at designated shops.
The price for a similar cut on the market can be more than three times that, depending on its quality and the location of the butchers. The minimum wage is currently less than $100 per month in Iran.
“I usually buy meat for a stew or a few dishes around every three weeks; for some families in the neighbourhood, it has become a sort of luxury,” said a middle-aged woman, who lives with her husband and son in Tehran.
She told Al Jazeera that chicken, eggs and legumes have become replacements for red meat, but the costs of these staples have significantly increased, too.
Masoud Rasouli, a meat-packing industry representative, told the state-linked Mehr news agency earlier this week that demand for red meat has decreased by 50 percent compared with last year.
He said some meat was imported to counter any effects of the US blockade, but local demand is currently so low that “existing livestock population is enough for all the needs of the market”.
Data released by the state-linked Iranian Labour News Agency this week showed that the current cheapest government-announced price for one kilogramme of meat during Eid is equal to the price of a 50kg live sheep 10 years ago.
According to the Statistical Center of Iran, year-on-year inflation stood at more than 73 percent in the first month of the Persian calendar year that ended in late April.
Iranian rice was up by 173 percent and chicken by 191 percent in that month compared with a year before, while liquid cooking oil more than quadrupled. Figures for the next month are expected to be worse.
Controlling inflation
Price-control measures – which have been implemented by authorities to fight a decade of rampant inflation – have been unable to adequately compensate for the ever-decreasing purchasing power of Iranian households living under local mismanagement and US sanctions – and now war and a blockade.
A young man working at a butcher shop in southwestern Tehran said they have had to increase prices several times over recent months after suppliers announced hikes.
“Our sales were a bit higher today because of the Eid, but we see even our most frequent customers far less these days. Most of the conversations with the customers are about the prices,” he told Al Jazeera.
Iran and the US have been holding negotiations through regional mediators to potentially end the war. But amid exchanges of fire and inflexibility over demands, no breakthrough has emerged even as both sides say a memorandum of understanding has mostly been negotiated.
Religious messaging
Beyond greetings and congratulatory phone calls with regional peers, Iranian authorities also used the Muslim festival this year to issue political messages.
On Wednesday morning in the capital, the authorities organised a large prayer to mark Eid at the University of Tehran, which was led by ultraconservative Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami.
He said that “submitting to humiliation” is an example of “evil” and the height of vice, at a time when he believes the other side, the US, seeks a surrender from Iran.
“Your enemies, the Iranian nation’s enemies, and this mad enemy sitting in the Black House – which is wrongly referred to as the White House – want your humiliation. But this madman will take that wish to his grave,” he said about US President Donald Trump.
Khatami, a member of the powerful Guardian Council and the clerical Assembly of Experts, also praised the supporters of the government who have taken to the streets every night for almost three months and said this “unprecedented” phenomenon would be repeated on the nights of Eid al-Adha.
President Masoud Pezeshkian had a relatively softer approach, but his comments were still laden with religious symbolism.
“In today’s turbulent world, where the fire of tyranny, occupation, and the arrogance of the hegemonic powers burns bright, Eid al-Adha conveys the message of dignity, liberty, and fearlessness in the face of the pharaohs of our time,” he said.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a message on Wednesday that he hoped for harmony in the Muslim world, amid this difficult time for the region.
“We pray that, by the auspiciousness and blessing of this great Eid, we will witness the deepening and strengthening of Islamic solidarity for cooperation and mutual assistance in confronting war, discrimination and occupation, especially in the West Asia region, and that our world will return to the path of reviving peace and justice,” he said.
For years, 64-year-old Najia Abu Lehia dreamed of performing Hajj with her husband. But before they could make the pilgrimage, her husband died during Israel’s war on Gaza. Now, as millions journey to Mecca, thousands like her are stranded in Gaza.
Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy.
Here’s TWZ’s weekly carrier tracker monitoring America’s flattop fleet, including deployed Carrier Strike Groups (CSGs) and Amphibious Ready Groups (ARGs), using publicly available open-source information. Check out last week’s map here.
More than 20 U.S. Navy warships, two carrier strike groups among them, are enforcing the blockade of Iran in the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) area of responsibility (AOR). To date, CENTCOM has redirected 61 commercial vessels linked to Iran and disabled at least four attempting to run the blockade.
USS John Finn (DDG 113) sails behind USS Milius (DDG 69), USNS Carl Brashear (T-AKE-7), and USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) in the Arabian Sea.
Over 20 U.S. warships are enforcing the blockade against Iran. CENTCOM forces have redirected 61 commercial vessels and disabled 4 to… pic.twitter.com/gG9B2K5c9p
The Navy released new images last week of both CSGs supporting the blockade. The USS George H.W. Bush was conducting flight operations in the Arabian Sea on May 6, and recently spotted with 25 F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, two E-2D Hawkeyes, and three MH-60 Seahawks of Carrier Air Wing 7 visible on the flight deck. Unlike the Abraham Lincoln CSG, also operating in the AOR, George H.W. Bush is not equipped with 5th-generation carrier-based F-35Cs.
Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) sails in the Arabian Sea, May 3, 2026. George H.W. Bush is deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations to support maritime security and stability in the Middle East. (U.S. Navy photo) U.S. Central Command Public Affa
The Gerald R. Ford CSG transited the Strait of Gibraltar westbound and is steaming toward Norfolk. The strike group has been deployed for 322 days, as of May 11, and is expected to return home in the coming weeks. The CSG departed Norfolk in June 2025 and was initially supposed to return in January, but its deployment was extended twice to support combat operations in the Caribbean and the Middle East.
PACIFIC OCEAN (May 4, 2026) –The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) conducts flight operations, May 4, 2026. Theodore Roosevelt, flagship of Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 9, is underway in the U.S. 3rd Fleet area of operation conducting advanced training to bolster strike group readiness and capability. An integral part of U.S. Pacific Fleet, U.S. 3rd Fleet operates naval forces in the Indo-Pacific and provides the realistic, relevant training necessary to execute the U.S. Navy’s role across the full spectrum of military operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Aaron Haro Gonzalez) Seaman Aaron Haro Gonzalez
USS Nimitz is anchored off Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for a five-day liberty port call. Nimitz is circumnavigating South America en route to her new homeport in Norfolk. Originally slated to be decommissioned this year, her service life was recently extended into 2027.
USS Nimitz (CVN 68) Nimitz-class aircraft carrier and USNS Patuxent (T-AO-201) Henry J. Kaiser-class replenishment oiler along with a Brazilian attack submarine in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – May 7, 2026 SRC: X-@dmdst12pic.twitter.com/Qch7agZEDJ
Another Marine Air-Ground Task Force is set to arrive in CENTCOM in the near-term. While the Boxer ARG has not been confirmed in CENTCOM as of publication, an arrival announcement could come as soon as next week. The 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) is comprised of a command element, a Ground Combat Element, Battalion Landing Team 3/5, an Aviation Combat Element with two squadrons, Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 163 (Reinforced) and Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 122, and a logistics combat element. The approximately 5,000 Marines and Sailors aboard Boxer ARG will join the Tripoli ARG, already on station in the Middle East, and significantly enhance the United States’ expeditionary capabilities in the region.
U.S. Marine Corps F-35B Lightning II assigned to Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 122, 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, land during flight operations aboard Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Boxer (LHD 4) in the Pacific Ocean, May 2, 2026. The 11th MEU, embarked aboard the Boxer Amphibious Ready Group, is a persistent, combat credible force contributing to deterrence and crisis response in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations. U.S. 7th Fleet, the U.S. Navy’s largest forward-deployed numbered fleet, routinely interacts and operates with allies and partners to preserve a free and open Indo-Pacific. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Trent A. Henry) Sgt. Trent A. Henry
Note: Positions are general approximations.Non-deployed LHA/LHD amphibious warships are not shown.
Contact the author: ian.ellis-jones@teamrecurrent.io
U.S. forces “disabled M/T Sea Star III and M/T Sevda, May 8, prior to both vessels entering an Iranian port on the Gulf of Oman in violation of the ongoing U.S. blockade, CENTCOM stated. “A U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet from USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) disabled both tankers after firing precision munitions into their smokestacks, preventing the non-compliant ships from entering Iran.”
This was the third time that the U.S. has fired on Iranian ships running the blockade. The Navy has used a destroyer’s five-inch gun firing inert rounds to blast the engineering section of one ship to disable it and a Super Hornet’s 20mm Vulcan cannon to disable the rudder on another. So, the use of bombs dropped down a ship’s smokestack to disable but not destroy a ship is new. You can read about these prior instances here.
The weapons used in this latest wave of attacks on blockade runners wasn’t disclosed. 500lb laser-guided bombs are likely what was employed here based on the Super Hornet’s stores options, precision required, and the effects seen. These can utilize high-explosive bomb bodies or inert ones for desired effects, with the latter being most probable in this case.
Fox News reporter Jennifer Griffin was the first to report this news.
NEW: US military carried out more airstrikes today hitting several empty tankers trying to break the blockade.
According to a senior US official: “these were Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC) …. massive, empty ships trying to make it back to Iran … attempted to run the…
The blockade on Iranian ports was enforced April 13 to strangle Iran’s economy as part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s efforts to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. On Friday, CENTCOM reported that U.S. forces have prevented more than 70 tankers from entering or leaving Iranian ports.
“These commercial ships have the capacity to transport over 166 million barrels of Iranian oil worth an estimated $13 billion-plus,” the command stated on X.
There are currently more than 70 tankers that U.S. forces are preventing from entering or leaving Iranian ports. These commercial ships have the capacity to transport over 166 million barrels of Iranian oil worth an estimated $13 billion-plus. pic.twitter.com/VBKfDwMwqJ
However, “a confidentialCIA analysis delivered to administration policymakers this week concludes that Iran can survive the U.S. naval blockade for at least three to four months before facing more severe economic hardship,” The Washington Post reported on Thursday, citing four people familiar with the document.
Washington Post (This got a lot of attention overnight)
A confidential CIA analysis delivered to administration policymakers this week concludes that Iran can survive the U.S. naval blockade for at least three to four months before facing more severe economic hardship.
PLUS:…
— Joumanna Nasr Bercetche (@JoumannaTV) May 8, 2026
“The Ministry of Defense announced that on May 8, 2026, the UAE air defense systems engaged 2 ballistic missiles and 3 UAV’s launched from Iran, resulting in 3 moderate injuries,” the UAE Defense Ministry (MoD) announced on X Friday morning EDT. “Since the beginning of the blatant Iranian attacks on the United Arab Emirates, the air defenses have engaged a total of 551 ballistic missiles, 29 cruise missiles, and 2,263 UAV’s.”
The UAE, located about 60 miles south of Iran across the Strait, claims these attacks have killed 13 and injured 230.
The MoD “affirmed that it remains fully prepared and ready to deal with any threats and will firmly confront anything that aims to undermine the security of the country, in a manner that ensures the protection of its sovereignty, security and stability and safeguards its interests and national capabilities.”
Tehran did not immediately respond to the claim, which TWZ cannot independently verify.
These incidents follow an exchange of fire last night between the U.S. and Iran. As we reported yesterday, U.S. Central Command said it attacked several locations in Iran after “Iranian forces launched multiple missiles, drones and small boats as USS Truxtun (DDG 103), USS Rafael Peralta (DDG 115), and USS Mason (DDG 87) transited the international sea passage. No U.S. assets were struck.”
Iran said it launched the attacks in retaliation for “violation of the ceasefire and the aggression by the terrorist US military against an Iranian oil tanker near the port of Jask.”
IRGC Navy:
Following the violation of the ceasefire and the aggression by the terrorist US military against an Iranian oil tanker near the port of Jask, and the approach of warships belonging to the terrorist US military toward the Strait of Hormuz, a very large-scale and… pic.twitter.com/pmg4IiD15M
The extent of the damage to Bandar Abbas, Qeshm Island and the Bandar Kargan naval checkpoint in Minab, targets struck by the U.S. on Thursday in response to the attacks on U.S. Navy ships, remains unclear. No images have emerged and neither Iran nor the U.S. have commented.
Last night, Trump called the exchange a “love tap” and said the ceasefire still held.
President Trump tells me in a phone call the retaliatory strikes against Iranian targets are just a “love tap.”
Amid the kinetic activity, diplomacy continues as Trump insists that Iran never develop a nuclear weapon. The status of its ballistic missile arsenal, control of the Strait of Hormuz and support for proxies like Hezbollah and the Houthis are also major sticking points.
The U.S. is awaiting to hear back from Iran about its peace proposal, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.
“We’re expecting a response from them today at some point. We have not received that yet,” he said.
The secretary added that he remained concerned that Iran is still trying to maintain control over the Strait.
“We’ve seen the reporting overnight that Iran is trying to establish some agency that’s going to control traffic in the Strait,” Rubio explained. “That would actually be unacceptable.”
“We’ve seen the reporting overnight that Iran is trying to establish some agency that’s going to control traffic in the Straits… That would actually be unacceptable,” says @SecRubio.
“We’re expecting a response from them today at some point. We have not received that yet.” pic.twitter.com/Wo8IEEWDnI
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 8, 2026
Iran, meanwhile, is accusing the U.S. of moving the goal posts in the negotiating process by using force.
“Every time a diplomatic solution is on the table, the U.S. opts for a reckless military adventure,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated on X. “Is it a crude pressure tactic? Or the result of a spoiler once again duping POTUS into another quagmire? Whatever the causes, [the] outcome is the same: Iranians never bow to pressure.”
Every time a diplomatic solution is on the table, the U.S. opts for a reckless military adventure. Is it a crude pressure tactic? Or the result of a spoiler once again duping POTUS into another quagmire?
Iran claims that its “naval commandos carried out a special operation to detain” an oil tanker, “which was attempting to disrupt Iran’s oil exports and national interests.”
“Implementing the decision of the Supreme National Security Council and with a judicial ruling, the Army Navy seized the oil tanker Ocean Koi, which was carrying Iranian oil and tried to take advantage of the situation in the region to harm and disrupt the oil exports and the interests of the Iranian nation,” said Iran’s Army Public Relations Office in a statement on Friday.
“The commandos of the Army Navy “directed the violating oil tanker to the southern coast of Iran and handed it over to the judicial authorities,” according to the statement. “The Navy of the Islamic Republic of Iran will “vigorously defend the interests and assets of the Iranian nation in the territorial waters of the country and will not tolerate any violator or aggressor.”
Though Iranian officials identified this ship as the Ocean Koi, it is also known as the Jin Li. It is part of Iran’s so-called dark fleet and was sanctioned by the U.S. in February for transporting millions of barrels of Iranian oil. It is unclear why Iran made a show of this event, though it could have been for domestic consumption in the wake of yesterday’s attacks on several targets.
You can see video of the claimed boarding below.
According to IRIB (Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting) News, the Iranian Navy had conducted a special operation to seize an “offending tanker” named “OCEAN KOI” for attempting to export Iranian oil.
Her new name is actually JIN LI (9255933), and has been so since 2025-11-30.… pic.twitter.com/3Wv8jJNEAr
— TankerTrackers.com, Inc. (@TankerTrackers) May 8, 2026
UPDATE: 12:16 PM EDT –
The CIA recruited sources inside Iran, but flawed covert communications reportedly helped Iranian counterintelligence identify and arrest informants, a new report from Reuters stated.
“In interviews with six Iranian former CIA informants, Reuters found that the agency was careless…amid its intense drive to gather intelligence in Iran, putting in peril those risking their lives to help the United States,” the outlet explained.
“Such aggressive steps by the CIA sometimes put average Iranians in danger with little prospect of gaining critical intelligence,” Reuters added. “When these men were caught, the agency provided no assistance to the informants or their families, even years later, the six Iranians said.”
UPDATE: 12:25 PM EDT –
Iranian officials continue to dismiss the notion that the country will cede control of the Strait.
Mohammad Mokhber, an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader, said on Friday Iran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz is an asset “on the scale of an atomic bomb”, adding that Tehran would not give up the capability it gained through war.”
Mohammad Mokhber, an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader, said on Friday Iran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz is an asset “on the scale of an atomic bomb”, adding that Tehran would not give up the capability it gained through war. pic.twitter.com/07vbiRwVPR
— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) May 8, 2026
12:43 PM EDT –
Hours after launching another attack on the UAE, an Iranian official says that country will remain a target for supporting the U.S. and Israel.
Iran will not leave the Emirates alone, and they are well aware of that, which is why they are trying to maintain tension between Iran, America, and the Zionist entity,” Ali Khodarian, a member of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security Commission, stated on X. “The Americans have realized that their naval blockade parade will henceforth face a military response from the Islamic Republic. No one can now carry out a military operation against our ships without a response.”
عضو لجنة الأمن القومي في البرلمان الإيراني علي خضريان:
⭕إيران لن تترك الإمارات وشأنها وهم يدركون ذلك لذا فهم يحاولون الحفاظ على التوتر بين إيران وأميركا والكيان الصهيوني
⭕ الأميركيون أدركوا أن استعراض حصارهم البحري سيواجه من الآن فصاعدا ردا عسكريا من قبل الجمهورية الإسلامية… pic.twitter.com/qHPE4ZeRsv
The United States will facilitate two days of intensive talks between the governments of Israel and Lebanon on May 14 and 15, State Department spokesman Tommy Piggott announced on Friday.
State Department
UPDATE: 1:48 PM EDT-
CENTCOM released imagery of the Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyers USS Truxtun (DDG 103), USS Rafael Peralta (DDG 115), and USS Mason (DDG 87) operating in the Middle East. “The three destroyers are currently sailing in the Arabian Sea supporting the blockade against Iran,” the command stated on X. “As of today, CENTCOM forces have redirected 57 commercial vessels and disabled 4 to prevent the ships from entering or leaving Iranian ports.”
Photos of USS Truxtun (DDG 103), USS Rafael Peralta (DDG 115), and USS Mason (DDG 87) operating in the Middle East. The three destroyers are currently sailing in the Arabian Sea supporting the blockade against Iran. As of today, CENTCOM forces have redirected 57 commercial… pic.twitter.com/iFHp1HHMac
The U.S. is denying the latest Iranian claim that it successfully carried out an attack on U.S. military assets.
On Friday, the Iranian Army claimed “while the US Navy was attempting to remove three of its destroyers from the Strait of Hormuz towards the Sea of Oman with air support, we carried out a combined missile and drone operation, during which we targeted this naval group with 8 cruise missiles and 24 suicide drones. As a result of this operation, and despite the extensive attempts by the US Navy to repel the attack, one cruise missile and three suicide drones successfully hit the American destroyers, causing fires to break out on them.”
Asked if any U.S. ships were struck today, a U.S. official offered a one-word response.
“No,” the official stated.
BREAKING: IRAN SAYS IT DIRECTLY HIT US DESTROYERS IN THE HORMUZ
The Iranian Army Statement:
On Friday morning, while the US Navy was attempting to remove three of its destroyers from the Strait of Hormuz towards the Sea of Oman with air support, we carried out a combined… pic.twitter.com/FusP0ihHxt
The Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway once carrying roughly a fifth of the world’s oil and gas, remains effectively closed after the United States and Iran imposed competing blockades.
Naval blockades are one of the oldest weapons in warfare, requiring no ground troops or invasion, just the ability to cut off what an enemy needs to survive. These blockades have reshaped economies, societies and alliances across generations, sometimes with instant shockwaves, sometimes with effects only seen later.
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From Israel’s ongoing siege of the Gaza Strip to blockades during World War I, here are some notable naval blockades in modern history:
Israel’s siege of Gaza (2007-present)
A view of the severely damaged Gaza City port as fishermen work under difficult conditions due to Israeli attacks, March 8, 2025 [Hamza ZH Qraiqea/Anadolu]
Israel’s complete land, sea and air blockade of the Gaza Strip is one of the longest sieges in modern history.
Launched in 2007, Israel has limited the entry of goods and essential supplies, causing a prolonged humanitarian and economic crisis for the Strip’s 2.3 million people, who cannot travel freely.
Before Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza began in October 2023, fishermen were restricted to 6-15 nautical miles (11-28km) from shore, well below the 20-nautical-mile (37km) zone guaranteed by the Oslo Accords.
After 2023, with Israel’s policy of starving the population, fishermen have taken extreme measures to feed their families, leading to many being killed by Israeli fire.
Since 2008, several Freedom Flotilla vessels have attempted to break the Israeli blockade. Since 2010, all flotillas attempting to break the Gaza blockade have been intercepted or attacked by Israel in international waters.
On April 30, Israel raided 22 out of the 58 vessels in the most recent Global Sumud Flotilla campaign in international waters more than 1,000km (620 miles) from Gaza.
Blockade of Biafra (1967-70)
Nigerian troops entering Port Harcourt, after routing Biafran troops during the Nigerian Civil War [File: Evening Standard/Getty Images]
During the Nigerian Civil War, which began in July 1967, the Nigerian federal government imposed a land, sea and air blockade on the secessionist Republic of Biafra shortly after it declared independence.
The blockade led to widespread starvation, widely seen as a deliberate wartime strategy, transforming a territorial conflict into a global humanitarian crisis. Death tolls vary, but it is estimated that one to two million people died, the vast majority from hunger and disease rather than direct conflict.
The nearly three-year-long blockade ended with the Biafran surrender in January 1970.
Beira Patrol blockade (1966-75):
HMS Cleopatra’s Wasp helicopter encounters an engine failure at high altitude during the blockade on the Port du Beira in 1971; the aircraft was recovered after it crash-landed [File: 50tony Wikimedia Commons]
The Beira Patrol was a nine-year-long blockade by the British navy to prevent oil from reaching Rhodesia, present-day Zimbabwe, through the Mozambican port of Beira, enforced under United Nations sanctions following Rhodesia’s unilateral declaration of independence.
The blockade largely failed its strategic goal. Rhodesia continued receiving oil via South Africa and other Mozambican ports, which the UN resolution did not authorise the British navy to intercept.
Additionally, the cost to the United Kingdom was substantial. The operation tied up 76 naval ships over nine years, with two frigates required on station at all times.
The blockade ended in July 1975, when Mozambique’s newly gained independence from Portugal allowed it to credibly commit to blocking oil transit to Rhodesia, rendering the naval patrol redundant.
Cuban Missile Crisis ‘quarantine’ (1962)
A US official shows aerial views of one of the Cuban medium-range missile bases, taken in October 1962, to the members of the UN Security Council [File: AFP]
In October 1962, the US ordered a naval “quarantine” of Cuba after US U-2 spy planes discovered Soviet nuclear missile sites under construction on the island.
The US deliberately called it a “quarantine” rather than a blockade, which would have been legally an act of war, aiming to prevent the Soviets from bringing in more military supplies and to pressure them to remove the missiles already there.
The quarantine drew a line 500 nautical miles (920km) from Cuba’s coast, with US warships authorised to stop, search, and turn back any vessel carrying offensive weapons if necessary.
The crisis brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. The then-Soviet First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev called the blockade “outright piracy” and an act of aggression, and initially ordered ships to proceed. For several days, Soviet vessels steamed towards the quarantine line as the world watched.
The most dangerous phase of the standoff lasted 13 days. An agreement was reached in which the Soviets would dismantle their offensive weapons in Cuba in exchange for a US public declaration not to invade Cuba, and a secret agreement to remove US Jupiter missiles from Turkiye.
The naval quarantine was formally ended on November 20, 1962, after all offensive missiles and bombers had been withdrawn.
Blockade of Wonsan (1951-53)
US B-26 Invaders dropped para-demolition bombs at supply warehouses and dock facilities at the Wonsan port in North Korea in 1951 [File: Wikimedia Commons]
During the Korean War, UN naval forces led by the US imposed a blockade of the North Korean port of Wonsan in February 1951, lasting nearly two and a half years.
It aimed to deny the North Korean navy access to the city, which was strategically significant for its large harbour, airfield and petroleum refinery.
The blockade was preceded by a dangerous mine-clearance operation in October 1950. North Korean forces had been well supplied by the Soviet Union and China with sea mines, and during the clearance, the sweepers USS Pledge and USS Pirate were sunk, killing 12 men and wounding dozens.
The operation successfully constrained North Korean and Chinese forces on the east coast, forcing them to divert thousands of troops and artillery pieces away from the front line. UN forces also captured several harbour islands, which strengthened the blockade’s grip on the port.
The blockade ended after 861 days with the signing of the Korean Armistice Agreement in July 1953. By that point, allied naval fire had almost levelled Wonsan.
US submarine blockade of Japan (1942-45)
The US sinking of the Japanese destroyer Yamakaze on June 25, 1942 [File: US Navy via Wikimedia Commons]
The US imposed a submarine blockade against Japan during the Pacific War.
The blockade began taking shape in 1942, combining US naval submarine attacks on merchant shipping with minelaying operations to cripple Japan’s war capabilities, disrupt shipping and cut off vital supplies such as food and fuel.
As an island nation, Japan was especially vulnerable, almost entirely dependent on imports of oil, rubber and raw materials. Its economy and military could not function without open sea lanes.
Over the course of the war, US submarines sank some 1,300 Japanese merchant ships and roughly 200 warships. By 1945, oil imports had effectively ceased.
Food imports collapsed, causing significant shortages and malnutrition across Japan by 1945, though the extent of civilian starvation is disputed.
After the US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima on August 6 and Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, Japan announced its surrender on August 15, bringing the blockade and the Pacific War to an end.
Blockade of eastern Mediterranean (1915-18)
World War I map shows modern Palestine and Syria, published in 1918 [File: Wikimedia Commons]
In August 1915, during World War I, the Allied forces imposed a blockade of the eastern coast of the Mediterranean to cut off military supplies and weaken the Ottoman Empire’s war effort.
The declared area ran from the intersection of the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean Sea in the north to the Egyptian frontier in the south. The blockade was initiated by Britain and France, later assisted by Italy and other Allied powers.
The consequences were devastating. Military supplies, munitions, oil, food and medicine were all targeted. The food crisis was compounded by a locust plague in 1915 and a severe drought, contributing to severe famine across Lebanon and Greater Syria.
Reports suggest the famine led to 500,000 deaths by 1918, mostly civilians, with Mount Lebanon losing an estimated one-third of its population. Mass migration followed.
The blockade remained in place throughout the war and lifted only when Allied forces occupied Beirut and Mount Lebanon in October 1918.
Allied blockade of Germany (1914-19)
German U-35 submarine sinking the French steamer, Herault, in the Mediterranean, off Cabo San Antonio, Spain, June 23, 1916 [Courtesy of the Library of Congress]
The British navy began blockading Germany almost immediately after the outbreak of the war in August 1914.
The naval blockade extended from the English Channel to Norway, cutting off Germany from the oceans.
Britain mined international waters to prevent ships from entering the ocean, creating danger even for neutral vessels.
Germany responded by declaring the seas around the British Isles a “military area”, prompting Britain and France to ban all goods to and from Germany.
The blockade’s most devastating consequence was famine. The winter of 1916-17, known as the Turnip Winter, marked one of the harshest years in wartime Germany.
The blockade had cut off food and fertiliser imports, a failed potato harvest left little to fall back on, and a breakdown in food distribution compounded the crisis. It is estimated that between 424,000 and 763,000 civilians died from diseases related to hunger and malnutrition.
The blockade was not yet fully lifted until July 1919, after the Treaty of Versailles had been signed.
On March 11, the Thai cargo ship Mayuree Naree was struck by two projectiles while crossing the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important waterways located between Iran and Oman. A fire broke out in the engine room, and while 20 sailors were rescued, three remained trapped inside the stricken vessel. Their remains were found weeks later when a specialised rescue team boarded the vessel, which had run aground on the shores of Iran’s Qeshm island.
At about the same time, a “shadow fleet” of tankers continued to navigate the very same waters safely. Operating with fake flags, disabled signals and unspecified destinations, this covert armada survived because it operates outside the traditional rules of maritime trade.
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Iran threatened to block “enemy” ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz – a crucial chokepoint for a fifth of the world’s oil – in the wake of the United States-Israeli war launched on February 28. Soon, navigation through the strait was disrupted amid fears of attacks.
Following a temporary ceasefire on April 8, the United States imposed a full naval blockade on Iranian ports on April 13. Theoretically, traffic through the strait should have come to a complete halt.
However, tracking data reveals a remarkably different reality.
(Al Jazeera)
An exclusive Al Jazeera open-source investigation tracked 202 voyages made by 185 vessels through the strait between March 1 and April 15, navigating both under fire and across blockade lines.
The numbers behind the shadows
To understand how the strait operated under extreme pressure, Al Jazeera’s Digital Investigative Unit monitored the waterway daily, cross-referencing vessel International Maritime Organization (IMO) numbers with international sanction lists from the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United Nations. An IMO number is a unique seven-digit figure assigned to commercial ships.
Of the tracked voyages, 77 (38.5 percent) were directly or indirectly linked to Iran. Notably, 61 of the ships transiting the strait were explicitly listed on international sanctions lists.
(Al Jazeera)
The investigation divided the conflict into three distinct phases to map the fleet’s behaviour:
Phase 1: Open War (March 1 – April 6): 126 ships crossed the strait, peaking at 30 vessels on March 1. Among these, 46 were linked to Iran.
Phase 2: The Truce (April 7 – 13): 49 ships crossed during this fragile pause. More than 40 percent of these vessels were tied to Iran, including the US-sanctioned, Iranian-flagged Roshak, which successfully exited the Gulf.
Phase 3: The US Blockade (April 13 – 15): Despite the explicit naval blockade, 25 ships crossed the strait.
Breaking the blockade
When the US blockade took effect, the shadow fleet adapted immediately.
The Iranian cargo ship “13448” successfully broke the blockade. Because it is a smaller vessel operating in coastal waters, it lacks an official IMO number, allowing it to evade traditional sanction-monitoring tools. The vessel departed Iran’s Al Hamriya port and reached Karachi, Pakistan.
Similarly, the Panama-flagged Manali broke the blockade, crossing on April 14 and penetrating the cordon again on April 17 en route to Mumbai, India.
The investigation uncovered widespread manipulation of Automatic Identification System (AIS) trackers. Vessels such as the US-sanctioned Flora, Genoa and Skywave deliberately disabled or jammed their signals to hide their identities and destinations.
Fake flags and shell companies
To obscure ultimate ownership, the shadow fleet heavily relies on a complex web of “false flags” and shell companies. The investigation identified 16 ships operating under fake flags, including registries from landlocked nations like Botswana and San Marino, as well as others from Madagascar, Guinea, Haiti and Comoros.
(Al Jazeera)(Al Jazeera)
The operational network managing these ships spans the globe. Operating firms were primarily based in Iran (15.7 percent), China (13 percent), Greece (more than 11 percent) and the United Arab Emirates (9.7 percent). Notably, the operators of nearly 19 percent of the observed vessels remain unknown.
The toll of a parallel system
Despite the intense military pressure, energy carriers dominated the traffic, with 68 ships (36.2 percent) transporting crude oil, petroleum products and gas. Ten of these tankers were directly linked to Iran. Non-oil trade also persisted, with 57 bulk and general cargo ships crossing during the open war phase, 41 of which were tied to Tehran.
(Al Jazeera)
Before the war, at least 100 ships crossed the Strait of Hormuz daily. Today, a staggering 20,000 sailors are trapped on 2,000 ships across the Gulf – a crisis the International Maritime Organization described as unprecedented since World War II.
A shadow Iranian fleet, meanwhile, has been navigating seamlessly as part of a parallel maritime system born from 47 years of US sanctions on Tehran. Washington slapped sanctions on Tehran following the 1979 Islamic revolution that toppled the pro-Washington ruler Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The two countries have had no diplomatic ties since 1980.
Islamabad, Pakistan – Pakistan has opened six overland transit routes for goods destined for Iran, formalising a road corridor through its territory as thousands of containers remain stranded at Karachi port because of the United States blockade of Iranian ports and ships trying to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
The Ministry of Commerce issued the Transit of Goods through Territory of Pakistan Order 2026 on April 25, bringing it into immediate effect. The order allows goods originating from third countries to be transported through Pakistan and delivered to Iran by road.
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The announcement coincided with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi’s visit to Islamabad for talks with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and army chief Asim Munir, the latest in a series of diplomatic engagements as Pakistan seeks to mediate an end to the two-month war between Washington and Tehran.
Federal Minister for Commerce Jam Kamal Khan described the initiative as “a significant step toward promoting regional trade and enhancing Pakistan’s role as a key trade corridor”.
Iran has not publicly commented on the move, and Al Jazeera’s query to the Iranian embassy in Islamabad went unanswered.
The notification does not extend to Indian-origin goods. A separate Commerce Ministry order issued in May 2025, following the India-Pakistan aerial war that month, bans the transit of goods from India through Pakistan by any mode and remains in force.
Routes and regulations
The six designated routes link Pakistan’s main ports, Karachi, Port Qasim and Gwadar, with two Iranian border crossings, Gabd and Taftan, passing through Balochistan via Turbat, Panjgur, Khuzdar, Quetta and Dalbandin.
The shortest route, the Gwadar-Gabd corridor, reduces travel time to the Iranian border to between two and three hours, compared with the 16 to 18 hours it takes from Karachi – Pakistan’s biggest port – to the Iranian border. The Gwadar-Gabd route could cut transport costs by 45 to 55 percent compared with costs from Karachi port, according to officials.
But for Iran, firms sending their goods to the country, and transporters, all routes into Iranian territory today are viable options, with the principal maritime passage they have traditionally used – the Strait of Hormuz – blockaded by the US Navy.
Corridor shaped by conflict
The current US-Iran war began on February 28, when US and Israeli forces launched attacks on Iran.
In the weeks that followed, Iran restricted commercial navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway through which roughly a fifth of the world’s oil and gas passes during peacetime, disrupting one of the most critical arteries of global trade.
Pakistan brokered a ceasefire on April 8 and hosted the first round of direct US-Iran talks on April 11, in Islamabad. The negotiations lasted nearly a day but ended without a deal. Two days later, Washington imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports, throttling Tehran’s maritime access.
A second round of talks has since stalled. US President Donald Trump cancelled a planned visit to Islamabad by special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner last weekend.
Iran has ruled out direct negotiations with Washington while the blockade remains in place, though Araghchi told Pakistani officials that Tehran would continue engaging with Islamabad’s mediation efforts “until a result is achieved”.
The transit order appears to be a direct economic response to that impasse.
More than 3,000 containers destined for Iran have been stuck at Karachi port for several days, with vessels unable to collect the cargo. War-risk insurance premiums have surged from about 0.12 percent of a vessel’s value before the conflict to roughly 5 percent, making shipping to the region too expensive for many operators.
Shifting regional dynamics
The corridor also signals a shift away from Afghanistan, whose relations with Pakistan have deteriorated sharply.
The two sides engaged in clashes in October 2025 and again in February and March this year, with skirmishes continuing along the northwestern and southwestern borders.
The Torkham and Chaman crossings have ceased to function as reliable commercial routes since tensions escalated, limiting Pakistan’s overland access to Central Asian markets.
“This is a paradigmatic shift. Pakistan’s relations with the Afghan Taliban, the de facto rulers in Kabul, have no reset switch,” Iftikhar Firdous, cofounder of The Khorasan Diary, told Al Jazeera.
“Kabul has been diversifying away from Pakistan towards Iran and Central Asia, but this move flips the equation. Pakistan can now bypass Afghanistan entirely for westbound trade. The impact on Kabul’s transit relevance and revenue is strategic, not immediate – but it is real.”
Firdous said the implications extend beyond bilateral ties.
“This corridor also reduces Pakistan’s reliance on longer maritime routes through the Gulf. Geopolitics, security, and infrastructure will ultimately determine which corridors dominate, but it places Pakistan as the main overland gateway for China-backed trade routes into West Asia and beyond,” he said.
Minhas Majeed Marwat, a Peshawar-based academic and geopolitical analyst, urged caution. “A cornered Afghanistan is a destabilised Afghanistan, and Pakistan knows better than most what that costs,” she wrote on X on April 27.
“The opportunity here is real. So is the risk. Security on the northwestern and southwestern borders remains the variable that could unravel everything. Pakistan is positioned well. It is not yet positioned safely. Those are different things.”
Tehran, Iran – Iran’s national currency has plunged to new lows as authorities mobilise to dampen the impact of the naval blockade enforced by the United States.
The Iranian rial shot above 1.81 million to the US dollar on the open market by early afternoon on Wednesday before partially recovering. The embattled currency changed hands for about 1.54 million earlier this week, and its rate was about 811,000 per US dollar a year ago.
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The rial had remained relatively stable over the past two months after experiencing an earlier drop as US forces amassed in the lead-up to the US-Israeli war on Iran, which began at the end of February.
The latest freefall follows on from unchecked inflation, which has been increasingly plaguing the Iranian economy as a result of mismanagement and sanctions, and continues to ravage households. Washington now has three aircraft carriers in the region and is bringing in more troops and equipment as Israel expresses readiness to restart fighting, three weeks after a ceasefire began.
Iran’s authorities this week projected a hardened stance on negotiations with Washington, and pledged to fight the naval blockade of Iran’s southern waters, which the US Central Command insisted on Tuesday had “cut off economic trade going into and coming out of” the country.
Amid threats by US President Donald Trump, the Iranian government has also tried to empower its own border provinces to import essential goods by reducing red tape. It has also allocated $1bn from the sovereign wealth fund to buy food, and made a partial policy U-turn to restart offering a preferential subsidised exchange rate with the goal of reducing prices, despite concerns about corruption.
Non-oil trade takes hit
According to customs data released by state media, Iran’s non-oil trade has been negatively affected after commercial ties were disrupted or cut off as a result of the war, and critical infrastructure was bombed.
Iran’s customs authority put the total value of non-oil trade in the Iranian calendar year that ended on March 20 at close to $110bn, with $58bn going to imports. The figure was about 16 percent lower than the year before.
The volume of non-oil trade was valued at approximately $9bn for the 11th month of the calendar year ending on February 19, and $6.46bn in the final month, indicating a drop of about 29 percent in connection with the war, which started on February 28. The final month was also about 50 percent lower than the more than $13bn estimated value for last year’s corresponding month.
Part of the drop is linked with the fact that shipping has been significantly disrupted through the Strait of Hormuz as Iran and the US spar over control of the strategic waterway. The US and Israel also directed some of their thousands of strikes against ports, naval facilities, airports, and railway networks across the country.
Iran’s top steel and petrochemical producers were also extensively bombed, as were oil and gas facilities, power stations, and major industrial zones. The US and Israel have threatened to take Iran “back to the Stone Age” through systematic bombing of civilian infrastructure like power plants.
To manage the impact and preserve domestic supply, Iranian authorities have imposed temporary restrictions on exports of steel, petrochemicals, polymers and other chemicals.
Oil exports in the crosshairs
The US is using its military capabilities and economic chokeholds to drive down Iran’s oil exports, a goal that it has also pursued over recent years through sanctions.
Since mid-April, the US military has been deploying its soldiers to take over or inspect ships transiting through waterways near Iran, in addition to targeting what is known as a shadow fleet of tankers used by Iran to circumvent sanctions and ship its oil.
Warships and thousands of troops could still launch a ground invasion or destructive aerial attacks against Iran’s Kharg and other critical islands, and the Trump administration expects increased pressure on Iran’s oil sector due to hampered access to export routes and supertankers keeping the oil stored on the water.
The US Treasury has been blacklisting refineries in China, the biggest buyers of Iranian crude oil, and going after the banking and cryptocurrency channels alleged to be facilitating Tehran’s oil trade, and having links to the IRGC – which Washington considers a “terrorist” organisation.
“We will follow the money that Tehran is desperately attempting to move outside of the country and target all financial lifelines tied to the regime,” said US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on social media.
Chinese refineries buy roughly 90 percent of Iran’s oil shipments, and imported a record 1.8 million barrels per day in March, according to Vortexa Analytics data cited by the Reuters news agency, which also said purchases were expected to slow due to worsening domestic refining and processing margins.
According to figures released by the General Administration of Customs of China, the volume of the country’s bilateral trade with Iran during the first quarter of 2026 stood at $1.55bn, down 50 percent year-on-year.
In March, the first month of the war, trade stood at $184m, which was nearly 80 percent lower than the year before and 64 percent lower than the month before. China’s imports from Iran and exports to the country were both considerably reduced as a result of the war.
The removal of the United Arab Emirates as a major trade partner and import market for Iran has also significantly affected the country’s economy, increasing its reliance on land neighbours like Turkiye and Iraq to the west and Pakistan to the east.
The UAE, a big part of the Trump-led Abraham Accords that saw multiple countries normalise relations with Israel, was heavily targeted by ballistic missiles and drones launched by Iran.
The UAE has closed down numerous Iranian institutions on its soil over the past two months, including financial facilitators, instructed Iranian citizens to leave, and has said it will take years to restore bilateral relations to previous levels.
As Iran stares down the economic consequences of a prolonged blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, attention is shifting north.
With Gulf shipping lanes disrupted and oil exports constrained, Tehran may seek to depend less on the Gulf and more on a patchwork of railways, Caspian ports and sanctions-era trade networks linking it to Russia.
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The importance of that relationship was underscored this week when Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi travelled to St Petersburg for talks with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, praising Moscow’s “firm and unshaken” support as the two sides discussed the war, sanctions and the future of the Strait of Hormuz.
But could Moscow really offer a lifeline for Iran’s beleaguered, war-torn economy, and would it even want to? We spoke to experts to find out.
Increasing but modest bilateral trade
Economic relations between Iran and Russia deepened after the US withdrew from a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and other nations in 2018 and reimposed sweeping sanctions on Tehran.
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 served to accelerate that trend as both countries found themselves increasingly cut off from the Western financial system. They turned to sanctions-evasion networks, alternative payment systems and non-Western trade corridors to keep goods, energy and money flowing.
Current trade is dominated by agricultural products – especially wheat, barley and corn – alongside machinery, metals, timber, fertilisers and industrial inputs. Tehran has also supplied Russia with low-cost Shahed drones, which Russia updated and has been using in its war on Ukraine.
“Trade turnover reached $4.8bn last year [2024], but we believe that the potential for our mutual trade is much greater,” Russian Energy Minister Sergey Tsivilyov told an intergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation between Moscow and Tehran in 2025.
Bilateral trade is reported to have increased by 16 percent during that period, driven largely by Russian exports of grain, metals, machinery and industrial goods.
But experts say that despite this increase, the overall trade relationship remains relatively modest compared with Iran’s trade with China or the Gulf countries.
Trade between the two is “not substantial, because both countries are producing almost similar products and the industries are similar”, Mahdi Ghodsi, an economist at the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, told Al Jazeera.
Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi during a meeting at the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library in Saint Petersburg, Russia, April 27, 2026 [Dmitri Lovetsky/Pool via Reuters]
Alternatives to Hormuz
The backbone of Russia-Iran trade is the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), a network of shipping lanes, railways, and roads linking Russia to Iran and onward to Asia, bypassing Western-controlled maritime routes.
Goods move from southern Russian ports, across the Caspian Sea to northern Iranian ports, including Bandar Anzali, before continuing by rail or truck.
The route has become increasingly important for Russian grain, machinery and industrial exports to Iran.
This route can serve as a “viable but partial lifeline”, Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at London-based Think Markets, told Al Jazeera, adding that Russian ports in Astrakhan, on the Volga River delta near the Caspian Sea, and Makhachkala, on the Caspian Sea, are already “primed for a surge in grain, metals, timber and refined products”.
A western branch also runs through Azerbaijan, though a key missing rail link between Rasht and Astara in northern Iran remains unfinished.
In 2023, Moscow agreed to help finance the line, with Russia’s president calling the agreement a “great event” that “will help to significantly diversify global traffic flows”.
Easier in theory than in practice
Analysts say that, although these routes may provide a temporary solution, the Strait of Hormuz offers a scale and efficiency that rail and land corridors cannot easily replicate.
Although maritime trade has been highly volatile in recent weeks, “from a historical perspective it is simply the quickest and the most cost-effective way of transporting anything”, Adam Grimshaw, an economic historian at the University of Helsinki, told Al Jazeera.
“Roughly 90 percent of Iran’s international trade is maritime trade that goes through the Gulf, which can’t be quickly or immediately replaced through land access to Iran or through air transport to circumvent the American blockade”, Nader Hashemi, an associate professor at Georgetown University, told Al Jazeera.
Ghodsi said Russia might be able to offer a “lifeline” in the short term, as it did when it exported grain during Iran’s droughts, but in the long run, it simply “cannot substitute” the vast amounts of maritime trade.
Re-routing trade routes via land “takes time”, pushing up prices for consumers and creating more food waste as perishables rot en route.
Does Moscow want to help Iran?
Most analysts say throwing an economic lifeline to Iran is not in Russia’s interests.
“They’ve got their own economic problems,” John Lough, head of foreign policy at the New Eurasian Strategies Centre, told Al Jazeera, pointing to signs of stagnation inside Russia, pressure on reserves and growing frustration over the prolonged war in Ukraine.
While Moscow could offer symbolic support or limited humanitarian assistance, “now is not a good time” to invest in Iran, he said, referring to the US-Israel war on the country.
Replacing maritime trade with overland routes would be extremely difficult, despite years of discussion about alternative corridors linking the two nations, he said.
It also won’t necessarily help Iran’s economy, which needs all the export revenue it can get, experts say.
“Much of Iran’s economy revolves around the sale of oil, and with that blocked or prevented by the American blockade, Russia really can’t help in that regard”, Hashemi said.
Others are more optimistic, however.
“Propping [up] Iran locks in higher global oil prices that buoy Russia’s war economy, cements INSTC dominance for Asian trade, and keeps a key anti-Western ally alive – no downside for Moscow in a fragmented Gulf,” Aslaam said.
United States President Donald Trump has claimed Iran is “collapsing financially” and said the country is losing millions of dollars a day due to Washington’s naval blockade of Iranian ports.
In a post on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday night, Trump wrote: “Iran is collapsing financially! They want the Strait of Hormuz opened immediately – Starving for cash! Losing 500 Million Dollars a day. Military and Police complaining that they are not getting paid. SOS!!!”
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The US blockade of Iranian ports began at 14:00 GMT on April 13. Since then, the US has fired on and seized an Iranian-flagged tanker near the Strait of Hormuz, and redirected ships in the open seas carrying cargo to or from Iran. Iran’s armed forces have called this “an illegal act” that “amounts to piracy”.
In response to the US naval blockade, Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz to all foreign shipping and has captured several foreign-flagged ships. Previously, it had allowed some ships deemed “friendly” to Iran to pass.
On April 19, Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref said the “security of the Strait of Hormuz is not free”.
“One cannot restrict Iran’s oil exports while expecting free security for others,” he wrote in a post on X.
“The choice is clear: either a free oil market for all, or the risk of significant costs for everyone,” he added. “Stability in global fuel prices depends on a guaranteed and lasting end to the economic and military pressure against Iran and its allies.”
In a statement on social media on Thursday, Iran’s parliamentary speaker and lead negotiator in the ceasefire talks, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said a full ceasefire could only work if the US naval blockade is lifted.
Analysts say the blockade is hurting Iran but believe the country has the economic and political will to sustain it.
How long can Iran survive the naval blockade?
Here’s what we know:
How is the naval blockade hurting Iran?
Iran exports oil, gas and other goods including petrochemicals, plastics and agricultural products by sea. Analysts say the US naval blockade of its ports, including in the Strait of Hormuz, could therefore affect this trade.
Soon after the start of the US-Israel war on Iran on February 28, authorities in Tehran implemented the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the only waterway out of the Gulf, through which 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies were shipped from Gulf producers in peacetime.
The near-shutdown of the vital chokepoint sent global oil and gas prices soaring, and since then, Iran has controlled the strait. However, it has continued to export its own energy products through the waterway.
Iran’s oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz account for about 80 percent of its total oil exports. According to Kpler, a trade intelligence firm, Iran exported 1.84 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil in March and has shipped 1.71 million bpd so far in April, compared with an average of 1.68 million bpd in 2025.
From March 15 to April 14, it exported 55.22 million barrels of oil. The price per barrel of Iranian oil – across its three major variants, known as Iranian light, Iranian heavy and Forozan blend – has not fallen below $90 per barrel over the past month. On many days, the price has surpassed $100 a barrel.
Even at the conservative estimate of $90 a barrel, Iran has earned at least $4.97bn over the past month from its ongoing oil exports.
By contrast, in early February before the war started, Iran was earning about $115m a day from its crude oil exports, or $3.45bn in a month.
Simply put, Iran has earned 40 percent more from oil exports in the past month than it did before the war.
Stopping this is a key motivation behind the US naval blockade of Iranian ports.
In an interview with Al Jazeera on April 14, Frederic Schneider, a nonresident senior fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs, told Al Jazeera that the previous six weeks had been a boon for Iran in terms of oil revenues, but with the US blockade, that will change.
“Iran has some buffer in the form of crude oil reserves in floating tanks – basically parked tankers – which was estimated at about 127 million barrels in February. But that doesn’t mean that the blockade wouldn’t hurt Iran,” he said.
On Friday, Schneider told Al Jazeera that Iran, however, seems to be “playing the longer game” and has anticipated and prepared for this sort of conflict to some degree.
“The naval blockade has added economic strain, as several civilian ships have been captured in international waters. But it remains unclear how tight the blockade is, how many ships manage to pass given the considerable amount of floating Iranian oil, and how long Trump can maintain the blockade,” he said.
(Al Jazeera)
Can the US keep the blockade going for long?
Schneider noted that Trump will face a legislative challenge by May 1, when the 60 days he can maintain a foreign offensive without congressional approval come to an end.
Dire conditions have been reported on the ships that are upholding the blockade, he said, and it remains to be seen how China will react to the continuing seizure of ships that carry any of its cargo.
“China has already said it sees the blockade of Chinese trade with Iran as unacceptable. Further, the closure of Hormuz by Iran in retaliation is hurting, if not the US itself that much, American allies in the region and globally, raising the pressure on Trump,” he said.
“If we can glean anything from the behaviour of the two sides, it is Iran that is signalling patience and Trump showing impatience,” he added.
Adam Ereli, a former US ambassador to Bahrain, told Al Jazeera’s This is America programme that while the US blockade of Iranian ports and seizure of vessels transporting Iranian oil “makes sense” as a policy, it may not work as intended due to domestic political considerations in the US.
“The Iranians have prepared for this, for this eventuality. They have their own plans. They’ve got alternative means of storing their oil or selling their oil,” Ereli told Al Jazeera.
“Even if they ran out of oil, they have ways to survive a very tough blockade and sanctions regime that, frankly, I think will outlast Trump’s patience and the patience of the American people,” he said.
“Remember, this isn’t just about moving soldiers and ships and planes around on a map. There’s politics involved here in the United States,” he added.
“Trump is nothing if not attuned to the political winds. And for that reason, I think that you’ve got this Iran strategy on the one hand that runs up against an electoral strategy on another hand, and therefore, the question is, which one is going to give?”
Can Iran store the oil the US is blockading in the meantime?
Iran’s domestic refineries have a capacity of 2.6 million bpd, according to consultancy FGE Energy. Its oil and gas production facilities are concentrated in southwestern provinces: Khuzestan for oil and Bushehr for gas and condensate from the South Pars gasfield.
Iran is also the third-largest oil producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and exports 90 percent of its crude oil via Kharg Island for shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
The US naval blockade has begun affecting the country’s storage capacity, according to TankerTrackers, the maritime intelligence agency. The blockade means Iran has to store more oil, and space could become tight.
TankerTrackers said that on Kharg Island, to prepare for the possibility of running out of oil storage space, Iran has brought an old tanker named NASHA (9079107) out of retirement.
“She’s a 30yo [year old] VLCC [Very Large Crude Carrier] that’s been anchored empty for the past few years; currently spending 4 days on a trip that should take 1.5-2 days,” TankerTrackers said in a post on X, suggesting that the tanker is being used to store oil. It is unclear if the ship has a heading or course.
Can Iran continue to earn revenues from oil?
Yes, analysts say that for a few months, Iran can continue to earn revenue from oil which is already in transit at sea.
Kenneth Katzman, former Iran analyst at the Congressional Research Service in Washington, DC, said Iran is not exporting new oil amid the US blockade of Iranian ports, but Tehran has between 160 million and 170 million barrels of oil “afloat” on ships around the world currently.
Those supplies, which transited the Strait of Hormuz before the US blockade was imposed, are on board hundreds of tankers and “waiting to be delivered”, Katzman told Al Jazeera.
Katzman said he had been informed by an Iranian professor that, based on those supplies, Tehran could have revenue flows that can last until August despite the US naval blockade.
“Which is a long time. Does President Trump have until August? Probably not,” he said.
“He’s probably going to have to look at kinetic escalation if he wants to bring this to the conclusion that he wants, or he’s going to have to accept less than the deal he ideally wants,” he said.
Iranian ships will still have to avoid US naval ships on the open ocean, as the US Navy has also recently intercepted ships carrying Iranian cargoes.
On Wednesday this week, for example, the US military intercepted at least three Iranian-flagged tankers in Asian waters, Reuters reported, and was said to be redirecting them away from their positions near India, Malaysia and Sri Lanka.
How else can Iran earn revenue?
Besides oil revenue, Iran is also currently receiving revenue from a “toll booth” system that the country imposed on the Strait of Hormuz in March.
On Thursday, Iran’s deputy parliament speaker Hamidreza Haji-Babaei said Tehran’s central bank had received the first revenues from tolls imposed since the start of the war, according to the semiofficial Tasnim news agency. It is unclear how much that toll revenue is.
Iranian politician Alaeddin Boroujerdi told the United Kingdom-based, Farsi-language satellite TV channel Iran International in March that the country has been charging some vessels as much as $2m each to pass through the strait.
According to Lloyd’s List, the shipping news outlet, at least two vessels that have transited the strait so far have paid fees in yuan, China’s currency. Lloyd’s List reported that one “transit was brokered by a Chinese maritime services company acting as an intermediary, which also handled the payment to Iranian authorities”. It is, however, not clear how much the vessels paid.
How resilient is Iran’s leadership?
In recent days, while pressuring Iran to negotiate a ceasefire deal, US President Donald Trump has claimed that Iranians are “having a very hard time figuring out who their leader is”, alleging that there is “crazy” infighting between “moderates” and “hardliners” in Tehran.
But the country’s officials have insisted that Iran’s government is united.
Mohammad Reza Aref, Iran’s first vice president, said on Thursday: “Our political diversity is our democracy, yet in times of peril, we are a ‘Single Hand’ under one flag. To protect our soil and dignity, we transcend all labels. We are one soul, one nation.”
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also dismissed allegations that the Iranian military may be at odds with the political leadership.
“The failure of Israel’s terrorist killings is reflected in how Iran’s state institutions continue to act with unity, purpose, and discipline,” he wrote on X, referring to the assassinations of Iranian political and military figures Israel has carried out in recent weeks.
“The battlefield and diplomacy are fully coordinated fronts in the same war. Iranians are all united, more than ever before.”
One of the strongest messages of unity came from Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian.
“In Iran, there are no radicals or moderates,” he said on X.
“We are all Iranians and revolutionaries. With ironclad unity of nation and state and obedience to the Supreme Leader, we will make the aggressor regret.”
How strong is Iran militarily?
Iran has demonstrated considerable military resilience in the face of weeks of US-Israeli strikes through its use of asymmetric warfare.
This includes the use of guerrilla tactics, cyberattacks, arming and supporting proxy armed groups and other indirect tools.
During its war with the US and Israel, Iran has targeted energy infrastructure in Israel and across the Gulf, threatened to target banking institutions and targeted US data centres of technology companies such as Amazon in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
Iran has also blocked the Strait of Hormuz and reportedly placed mines in the strait to disrupt shipping, sending global oil prices soaring.
Since the US began its naval blockade of Iranian ports in mid-April, Iranian officials have repeatedly promised that their country will defend itself and respond to any US attack.
Earlier this week, after the US military said it had seized an Iranian vessel and ordered dozens of others to turn around, Iran also retaliated by capturing foreign commercial vessels around the Hormuz Strait, which it said violated naval regulations.
Ereli, the former US ambassador, told Al Jazeera that Iran and the IRGC have “revolutionary fervour”, which means they can “survive”. “They can tolerate pain for a lot longer than I think most American decision makers and planners calculate,” Ereli said.
Ereli said it was unknown how long Tehran could last under “siege conditions” imposed by the US, but probably a lot longer than the US anticipates.
“I think they can go a lot longer, especially than most people imagine, and especially when it comes to kneeling to the Americans,” Ereli said.
“There’s a level of pride and survival. They’re at war with us, and for them it’s a war of necessity. They’ve got to survive,” he added.
WASHINGTON — President Trump has turned to naval blockades to pressure the governments of Venezuela, Cuba and now Iran to meet his demands, but his preferred tactic is confronting a very different reality in the Middle East than in the Caribbean.
Unlike Cuba or Venezuela, Iran choked off a crucial trade route for energy shipments, meaning the longer the standoff persists, the more the global economy will suffer. Tehran also poses a greater military threat than those two adversaries in America’s own hemisphere and requires a sustained military presence far from U.S. shores.
Iran’s leverage over the Strait of Hormuz gives it power during a shaky ceasefire because the widening economic risks, especially higher U.S. gas prices in an election year, could force the Republican president to end the blockade on Iran’s ports and coastline, experts say.
“It’s really a question now of which country, the U.S. or Iran, has a greater pain tolerance,” said Max Boot, a military historian and senior fellow for national security studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Iran presents ‘major differences’ from other blockades
The effectiveness of Trump’s use of the world’s most powerful navy to block the trade of Iran’s sanctioned oil and other goods is very much up for debate. But it certainly appears to be intensifying as the war grinds on.
The U.S. military on Thursday announced the seizure of another tanker associated with the smuggling of Iranian oil, a day after Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guards took control of two vessels in the crucial waterway.
Trump also announced he has ordered the U.S. military to “shoot and kill” Iranian small boats laying sea mines in the strait.
But the situation in Iran is not exactly analogous to what is playing out with the U.S. operations in Venezuela and Cuba.
Some experts say Trump’s success in Venezuela probably had more to do with the U.S. military raid that captured leader Nicolás Maduro than American warships seizing sanctioned oil tankers to enforce U.S. control over the South American country.
A U.S. oil embargo on Cuba, meanwhile, has caused the island’s most severe economic crisis in decades. While U.S. and Cuban officials have met recently on the island for rare talks, the financial strangulation has failed to produce the Trump administration’s stated goal of leadership change.
“I do think that the success of the Maduro mission in Venezuela has probably emboldened the president,” said Todd Huntley, director of Georgetown University’s National Security Law Program.
That does not make the situations in Venezuela and Iran similar — geographically, militarily or politically. “There are some major differences,” said Huntley, a retired Navy captain and judge advocate general.
While the blockade against Iran has delivered a severe blow to its economy, including stopping freighters from importing various supplies, the country has still been able to move some of its sanctioned oil, ship-tracking companies say.
Iran has rejected Trump’s demands to reopen the strait, where 20% of the world’s oil normally flows, and it has been firing on ships again this week. Stalled shipments through the strait have sent gasoline prices skyrocketing far beyond the region and raised the cost of food and a wide array of other products, creating a political problem for Trump before the November’s elections.
“Blockades are usually just one tool of a mechanism used in a conflict,” said Salvatore Mercogliano, a maritime history professor at Campbell University in North Carolina. “They can be important. But it’s only one element. And I don’t think it’s going to be enough to convince the Iranians.”
Effectiveness of U.S. blockade called into question
Adm. Brad Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command, claimed last week that “no ship has evaded U.S. forces.” The command overseeing the Middle East said it has directed 31 ships to turn around or return to port as of Wednesday.
Merchant shipping groups are skeptical.
Lloyd’s List Intelligence said “a steady flow of shadow fleet traffic” has passed in and out of the Persian Gulf, including 11 tankers with Iranian cargo that have left the Gulf of Oman outside the strait since April 13.
The maritime intelligence firm Windward said this week that Iranian traffic continues to flow “via deception.”
Iranian ships have several ways to sneak through the blockade, including spoofing their location tracking data or traveling through Pakistani territorial waters, Mercogliano said. He also noted that the sheer volume of shipping traffic the military needs to screen is a challenging task.
Blockades require patience to work
The last time the U.S. mounted a blockade similar to the one focused on Iranian ships was during the Kennedy administration in the early 1960s, against Cuba, Huntley said.
“And it wasn’t even called a blockade,” he said. “We called it quarantine.”
Some naval blockades over the course of history have had an impact, such as Britain’s blockade on Germany during World War I. “But they tend to be very long-term impacts, whereas Trump is looking for short-term, quick results,” according to Boot, the military historian.
He said Trump probably saw the blockade on sanctioned oil tankers tied to Venezuela as playing a large role in the success of leadership changes in that country. But Boot said it had more to do with the U.S. ousting Maduro and the subsequent cooperation from his vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, who is now the acting president.
“There is no Delcy Rodríguez in Cuba or Iran,” Boot said. “I think his success in Venezuela led him astray, thinking that this was a template that could be replicated elsewhere. He sees it as a huge success at little cost. And, in fact, it turns out to be a unique set of circumstances.”
Finley, Klepper and Toropin write for the Associated Press.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it seized two ships and damaged a third after the vessels “ignored repeated warnings.” British maritime monitors confirmed the incidents, describing one cargo ship left disabled in the water and another that took heavy damage to its bridge.
“Disrupting order and safety in the Strait of Hormuz is considered a red line for Iran,” the Iranian Navy Command said in a statement.
Hours before, President Trump confirmed he would maintain the naval blockade in the gulf, but agreed to give Iranian leaders additional time to agree on a new peace proposal, he wrote in a Truth Social post.
“Based on the fact that the Government of Iran is seriously fractured, not unexpectedly so and, upon the request of Field Marshal Asim Munir, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, of Pakistan, we have been asked to hold our Attack on the Country of Iran until such time as their leaders and representatives can come up with a unified proposal,” Trump wrote Tuesday.
More than a dozen American warships have prevented exports from leaving Iranian ports since peace talks in Islamabad failed earlier this month. The tactic has greatly constrained Iranian oil exports — about 90% of which flow through the Strait of Hormuz — contributing to rising inflationary pressure.
The restrictions could wipe out roughly $435 million in daily economic activity, according to Miad Maleki, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Oil exports, Tehran’s primary revenue source, have halted. At the same time, Iran has been unable to import food or industrial goods. As a result, the blockade is expected to empty Iran’s war coffers and sharply accelerate inflationary effects on its people.
Trump is betting that the strategy will force Iran’s fractured negotiating team — which appears to be split between parliamentary moderates and hard-liners within the Revolutionary Guard — to agree on a “unified” peace proposal.
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said Wednesday the president extended the ceasefire agreement to allow Iran to get their “act together,” and emphasized that Trump has not given Iran a “firm deadline” to respond yet.
“President Trump will ultimately dictate the timeline and he will do so when he feels it is in the best interest of the United States and the American people,” Leavitt told reporters.
Though she declined to specify who the administration is negotiating with in Iran, Leavitt said the president was “generously offering a bit of flexibility” to the regime so that they can come up with a unified response.
“This is a battle between the pragmatists and the hard-liners in Iran right now,” Leavitt told reporters at the White House.
That division was visible earlier this week when plans for a second round of talks in Islamabad collapsed after Iranian officials failed to confirm participation and instead introduced new preconditions under pressure from hard-line factions.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Bagher Ghalibaf initially signaled a willingness to attend talks, but was overshadowed by Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Maj. Gen. Ahmad Vahidi, who insisted that the United States lift its blockade before discussions could begin. A report by the Institute for the Study of War said Vahidi sought to derail negotiations rather than secure meaningful economic relief.
“One challenge with the ongoing negotiations is the divided nature of Iran’s negotiating team,” the report said, adding that “[Trump’s] reference to a ‘unified’ proposal appears to imply that previous proposals were not unified in some way.”
And while hard-liners continue attempts to derail diplomacy with continued demands and attacks in the strait, moderates in Iran continue to push for peace.
This week, prominent Sunni cleric Moulana Abdol Hamid called a “fair agreement” the only viable path forward and warned that those who seek to block negotiations would bear responsibility for the “homeland’s devastation.”
Benjamin Radd, a political scientist at UCLA who studies Iran, said the dispute is a sign of a larger power struggle for control of Tehran’s government.
“There are clear divisions within the leadership,” Radd said in an interview. “Right now, it’s the IRGC faction that has all the power. They have the guns, they have the weapons. What they don’t have is the diplomatic connections and experience dealing with the United States.”
Radd pointed to the economic toll of the U.S. blockade as a key driver of tension inside Iran.
“They’re facing a huge domestic crisis,” he said. “They’re not able to replenish their own needs. Nothing can get in or out of the country. They can’t make any money.”
The consequences of the U.S. strategy could push the more moderate Iranian leaders to strike a deal on nuclear enrichment or a reopening of the strait in exchange for the United States lifting the blockade, Radd said.
“That would start rebuilding some sort of trust,” Radd said. “And then we’re seeing the IRGC is basically steadfast, refusing to do any of this.”
With renewed Israeli attacks in Lebanon killing at least three people Wednesday, despite a 10-day ceasefire agreement, Iranian leaders are preparing for the possibility that talks with the United States will fail altogether.
“Iran has prepared for a new phase of fighting,” the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency reported this week, citing military redeployments and updated target lists.
Meanwhile, Iranian Judiciary Chief Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei warned that renewed U.S. or Israeli strikes were likely. Iran Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei made a similar statement in a news briefing Wednesday. He announced the country’s armed forces were “on high alert” and ready to defend against any threat, while being open to Pakistan’s mediation efforts.
He did not confirm if the government was participating in a second round of negotiations.
“Diplomacy is a tool for ensuring national interests and security,” he said, “and we will take the necessary steps whenever we conclude that the necessary and logical grounds exist to use this tool to achieve national interests.”
Until then, it appears both Washington and Tehran will continue brinkmanship in the strait.
On Wednesday morning, the IRGC released a statement confirming it seized the two cargo ships and identified them as the MSC Francesca and the Epaminondas. It claimed the MSC Francesca was linked to Israel and accused both of “jeopardizing maritime security by operating without necessary permits and tampering with navigation systems.”
A third ship, the Euphoria, which sails under the Panamanian flag and is owned by a company based in the United Arab Emirates, was fired upon early Wednesday while heading east out of the Strait of Hormuz, according to Vanguard, a maritime intelligence firm.
The Euphoria later resumed sailing toward the Gulf of Oman, according to Lloyd’s List.
In Lebanon, Amal Khalil became the fourth journalist killed by Israeli fire since hostilities with the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah intensified on March 2.
Khalil’s body was reported to have been found under the rubble of a house where she and freelance photographer Zeinab Faraj were sheltering, according to their colleagues.
Khalil and Faran were in the southern Lebanese town of Al-Tayri, covering developments there when an Israeli attack targeted the vehicle in front of them, killing its occupants.
The two journalists then sheltered in a house but were hit by Israeli fire once more, according to a statement from the Lebanese Health Ministry.
When Red Cross crews scrambled to the area to rescue the trapped journalists, they were targeted with a sound bomb and machine-gun fire.
The Israeli military said it was not preventing rescue teams from reaching the area and that the incident was under review. It acknowledged targeting a vehicle it said had come out of a structure used by Hezbollah and was heading toward Israeli troops.
The Red Cross reached the house by the early evening local time, and rescued Faraj, who is reported to be in stable condition after undergoing surgery for a head wound, according to her colleagues.
Times staff writers Ana Ceballos in Washington and Nabih Bulos in Beirut contributed to this report.
A Cuban Foreign Ministry official said the exchange with Washington was ‘respectful and professional’ and devoid of threats.
Published On 21 Apr 202621 Apr 2026
The Cuban government has confirmed that it held recent talks in Havana with officials from the United States, as tensions remain high between the two countries over Washington’s energy blockade of the Caribbean country.
Alejandro Garcia del Toro, deputy director general in charge of US affairs at the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said on Monday that the US delegation included assistant secretaries of state, and the Cuban delegation included representatives at the level of deputy foreign minister.
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Garcia de Toro said that the US delegation did not issue any threats or deadlines as had been reported by some US media outlets.
“The entire exchange was conducted with respect and professionalism,” he said.
In comments reported by Cuba’s Communist Party newspaper Granma, Garcia del Toro emphasised that ending the three-month-old US oil blockade was “a top priority” for the Cuban government in the talks, and accused Washington of “blackmail” for threatening countries that export oil to Cuba with tariffs.
“This act of economic coercion is an unjustified punishment for the entire Cuban population,” he said.
“It is also a form of global blackmail against sovereign states, which have every right to export fuel to Cuba, in accordance with the principles of free trade,” he added.
US news outlet Axios reported on Friday that officials from US President Donald Trump’s administration held multiple meetings in Havana on April 10, including with Raul Guillermo Rodriguez Castro, grandson of former President Raul Castro. The meetings marked the first time that American diplomats had flown into Cuba since 2016 in a new diplomatic push.
According to reports, US officials laid out several conditions for negotiations with Cuba to continue, including the release of prominent political prisoners, an end to political repression, and liberalising the island’s ailing economy.
The Reuters news agency said that US proposals for Cuba also include allowing Elon Musk’s Starlink internet terminals into the country and providing compensation for Americans and US corporations for assets confiscated by Cuba after the 1959 revolution. Washington is also concerned about the influence of foreign powers on the island, a US official told the news agency.
Trump has hinted at military intervention in Cuba and warned of tariffs on any country that sells or supplies oil to Cuba. The fuel blockade has aggravated Cuba’s economic and energy crisis, leading to warnings of a humanitarian disaster.
Cubans have also braced for a possible attack following Trump’s repeated warnings that the country will be “next” after his war on Iran and the US military’s abduction of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro in January.
Last week, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said that his country was prepared to fight if the US carried through on its threats.
The leaders of Mexico, Spain and Brazil on Saturday voiced concern over the “dramatic situation” in Cuba and urged “sincere and respectful dialogue”.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Monday there was no evident justification for the US to attack Cuba.
“The ability to defend oneself does not mean the right to intervene militarily in other states when their political systems do not match what others might have in mind,” he said.
All this comes as the U.S. and Iran appear closer to reaching a deal to end the war, which we will discuss in greater detail later in this story. The temporary ceasefire between the two countries ends April 21.
“In line with the ceasefire in Lebanon, the passage for all commercial vessels through Strait of Hormuz is declared completely open for the remaining period of ceasefire, on the coordinated route as already announced by Ports and Maritime Organization of the Islamic Rep. of Iran,” Sayyed Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian Foreign Minister, stated on X Friday morning.
In line with the ceasefire in Lebanon, the passage for all commercial vessels through Strait of Hormuz is declared completely open for the remaining period of ceasefire, on the coordinated route as already announced by Ports and Maritime Organisation of the Islamic Rep. of Iran.
That route is a narrow five-mile stretch between the islands of Qeshem and Larak, roughly 15 miles from the Iranian shoreline.
In a post on his Truth Social site, U.S. President Donald Trump hailed the decision but said it did not change the ongoing blockade.
“THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ IS COMPLETELY OPEN AND READY FOR BUSINESS AND FULL PASSAGE, BUT THE NAVAL BLOCKADE WILL REMAIN IN FULL FORCE AND EFFECT AS IT PERTAINS TO IRAN, ONLY, UNTIL SUCH TIME AS OUR TRANSACTION WITH IRAN IS 100% COMPLETE,” Trump stated. “THIS PROCESS SHOULD GO VERY QUICKLY IN THAT MOST OF THE POINTS ARE ALREADY NEGOTIATED.”
Trump:
The Strait of Hormuz is completely open and ready for business and full passage, but the naval blockade will remain in full force and effect as it pertains to Iran only, until our transaction with Iran is 100% complete! pic.twitter.com/YMGS5BUGjD
The president added that “Iran has agreed to never close the Strait of Hormuz again. It will no longer be used as a weapon against the World!” However, there was no immediate response from Tehran.
Iran has agreed to never close the Strait of Hormuz again. It will no longer be used as a weapon against the World! President DONALD J. TRUMP
— Commentary Donald J. Trump Posts From Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) April 17, 2026
Regarding any peace deals, Trump said on his Truth Social network that the “U.S.A. will get all Nuclear ‘Dust,’ created by our great B2 Bombers – No money will exchange hands in any way, shape, or form.”
This was a reference to the Operation Midnight Hammer attack on Iranian nuclear facilities last year. Iran is believed to have about 440.9 kg of uranium enriched up to 60% of the explosive uranium isotope, U-235 stored at these locations.
“This deal is in no way subject to Lebanon, either, but the USA will, separately, work with Lebanon, and deal with the Hezboolah situation in an appropriate manner. Israel will not be bombing Lebanon any longer,” Trump added.
“The U.S.A. will get all Nuclear “Dust,” created by our great B2 Bombers – No money will exchange hands in any way, shape, or form.” pic.twitter.com/vkRVe30AzT
It remains to be seen how this will play out. Iran’s state TV, citing a senior military official, highlighted that “only civilian vessels will be allowed to pass through the Strait of Hormuz via designated routes and with permission from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy.”
“The passage of military vessels through the strait remains prohibited,” it said.
Iran’s state TV, citing a senior military official, said “only civilian vessels will be allowed to pass through the Strait of Hormuz via designated routes and with permission from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy.”
— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) April 17, 2026
Despite the closure, ships have still transited the strategic body of water through which about a fifth of the world’s oil and gas exports pass. Ship traffic through the Strait actually “increased from last month’s unusually low levels, with crossings rising and activity extending across a broader mix of vessel types and cargoes,” according to the global trade intelligence firm Kpler.
Traffic gradually returns to Hormuz
Vessel traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has increased from last month’s unusually low levels, with crossings rising and activity extending across a broader mix of vessel types and cargoes. Movements are becoming more balanced in both… pic.twitter.com/FPjw0s3N9k
There is also still the issue of mines in the section of the Strait outside the Qeshem-Larak passage. Demining is one of the issues being discussed today in an international meeting being held in Paris, a French official told us. We’ll discuss this meeting in a little more detail later in this story.
Trump, however, claimed that “Iran, with the help of the U.S.A., has removed or is removing all sea mines!”
The Strait of Hormuz and Qeshem and Larak islands. (Google Earth)
We have reached out to shippers and maritime analysis and security firms to get a clearer picture of what this decision means from their perspectives.
“This is good news,” a spokesman for Hapag-Lloyd told us. “There are still some open questions on our end, but they might be resolved within the next 24 hours. Top priority for the passage is safety and security for the seafarers, the vessel and the cargo of our customers. If all open issues are cleared (i.e. insurance coverage, clear orders of Iranian government/military about the exact sea corridor to be used and the sequence of ships leaving) we would prefer to pass the strait as soon as possible. Our crisis committee is in session and will try to resolve all open items with the relevant parties within the next 24-36 hours.”
The reopening of the Strait “marks a turn for global shipping, as it allows over 750 vessels previously trapped in the Middle East Gulf to begin clearing approximately $17 billion in stranded energy and dry bulk cargoes,” Kpler told us. “As of April 17, 2026, there are 862 vessels currently operating within the Mideast Gulf. The core of the backlog is composed of approximately 187 laden tankers carrying roughly 172 million barrels of crude and refined products, along with a specialized cluster of 15 LNG vessels that remain almost entirely stalled following the collapse of recent ceasefire talks.”
The Strait reopening and a looming new round of peace talks appears to have provided a boost to the world economy.
“Oil prices are falling by more than 10%, and Wall Street is rallying toward another record after Iran said the Strait of Hormuz is fully open, which would allow oil tankers to exit the Persian Gulf again and carry crude to customers worldwide,” The Associated Press reported. “The S&P 500 rallied 0.7% as U.S. stocks sprinted toward the finish of a third straight week of big gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1%, and the Nasdaq composite added 1%.”
Stocks “have rallied more than 11% since late March on hopes that the United States and Iran can avoid a worst-case scenario for the global economy,” the wire service added.
BREAKING: President Trump and Iran’s foreign minister say the Strait of Hormuz is now fully open. Crude oil prices tumble 10% after the announcements. https://t.co/d44au7X8UP
He insisted that doing so will not involve U.S. ground troops. But when asked who would retrieve it, he would only say “our people.”
“No. No troops,” he told the network. “We’ll go down and get it with them, and then we’ll take it. We’ll be getting it together because by that time, we’ll have an agreement and there’s no need for fighting when there’s an agreement. Nice right? That’s better. We would have done it the other way if we had to.”
The president said the material would then be brought to the U.S.
“Our people, together with the Iranians, are going to work together to go get it. And then we’ll take it to the United States,” he said.
NEWS President Trump tells me:
-No ground troops will be required to remove enriched uranium from Iran
-Iran has agreed to stop backing all proxy groups like Hezbollah and Hamas
-I asked if Iran has agreed to stop enriching uranium *forever.” He said, “They’ve agreed to…
Speaking to the White House press corps, Trump addressed questions about the peace process.
“We’ll see how it all turns out, but it should be good, some very good discussions, and hopefully that subject that you like to talk about will be very good,” he said. “And we’ve done a good job, but we’ll see … the talks are going on and going over the weekend, and a lot of good things are happening that includes Lebanon.”
Asked about differences with Iran on how all this is developing, Trump said: “If there are, I’m going to straighten it out. .. don’t think there’s too many significant differences.”
As for the blockade: “When the agreement is signed, the blockade ends,” he proclaimed.
Earlier on Friday, Iranian officials said they would close the Strait again if the blockade is not lifted.
“We’ve had some very good discussions… Talks are going on. It’ll go on over the weekend — and a lot of good things are happening,” says @POTUS in Arizona.
Trump told Axios that U.S. and Iranian negotiators will probably meet this weekend, and he expects them to hammer out a final deal to end the war. The deal should come “in a day or two,” Axios reporter Barak Ravid added on X.
UPDATE: 1:28 PM EDT –
Trump told Reuters on Friday that the U.S. will work with Iran to recover its enriched uranium and bring it back to the United States.
“We’re going to get it together. We’re going to go in with Iran, at a nice leisurely pace, and go down and start excavating with big machinery… We’ll bring it back to the United States,” Trump said during a phone interview.
The United States will work with Tehran to recover its enriched uranium and bring it back to the United States, President Donald Trump told Reuters on Friday.
“We’re going to get it together. We’re going to go in with Iran, at a nice leisurely pace, and go down and… pic.twitter.com/ZfwJTFrIbr
— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) April 17, 2026
UPDATE: 1:17 PM EDT –
Seyyed Mohammad Mehdi Tabatabaei, a spokesperson for Iran’s president, pushed back on Trump’s claim that Iran promised never to close the Strait again.
“The Twitter rhetoric and baseless statements of the enemy are aimed at stripping the Iranian nation of their sense of pride for the great victories they have achieved through their resolute defense,” he stated on X. “The conditional and limited reopening of a portion of the Strait of Hormuz is solely an Iranian initiative, one that creates responsibility and serves to test the firm commitments of the opposing side. If they renege on their promises, they will face dire consequences.”
لفاظیهای توئیتری و اظهارات بیپایه دشمن، در جهت سلب احساس افتخار ملت ایران برای پیروزیهای بزرگی است که در دفاع مقتدرانه کسب کردهاند. بازگشایی مشروط و محدود بخشی از تنگه هرمز ، صرفا ابتکاری ایرانی، مسئولیتآفرین و برای آزمون تعهدات قطعی طرف مقابل است. بدعهدی کنند، بد میبینند.
Iran considers the continuation of the U.S. blockade on its ports a ceasefire violation and would close the Strait of Hormuz again if the blockade is not lifted, the IRGC-affiliated Fars News reported citing an informed source close to the Supreme National Security Council.
We’ve reached out to the White House for comment.
Iranian official to Fars:
If the maritime blockade continues, it will be considered a violation of the ceasefire, and the Strait of Hormuz transit route will be closed.
With new talks potentially set to be held in Pakistan over the weekend, the U.S. and Iran are negotiating over a three-page plan to end the war, Axios reported Friday morning. One of the key elements under discussion is “that the U.S. would release $20 billion in frozen Iranian funds in return for Iran giving up its stockpile of enriched uranium,” the outlet noted, citing two U.S. officials and two additional sources briefed on the talks.
The Memo of Understanding (MoU) also states the two sides are negotiating over a “voluntary” moratorium on nuclear enrichment by Iran. It also deals with the Strait of Hormuz, “though the sources said there are still significant gaps on that issue,” Axios posited.
It’s unclear if the MOU refers to Iran’s ballistic missiles and its support for regional proxies.
🚨 SCOOP: The U.S. and Iran are negotiating over a three-page plan to end the war, with one element under discussion being that the U.S. would release $20 billion in frozen Iranian funds in return for Iran giving up its stockpile of enriched uranium. https://t.co/w84Yd8JHgp
“Trump is directly talking to the Iranians,” U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told Fox News.
“He is negotiating himself,” Graham proffered. “He was on the phone with the Iranians a couple of days ago, and it got rather sporty—to the point that Trump loudly told Iran what would happen if they keep playing games. He actually lost his voice. I’d hate to be the Iranian on the receiving end of that.”
Senator Graham:
Trump is directly talking to the Iranians. He is negotiating himself.
He was on the phone with the Iranians a couple of days ago, and it got rather sporty—to the point that Trump loudly told Iran what would happen if they keep playing games.
Despite rising hopes that the war in Iran could soon end, the country’s deputy foreign minister on Friday rejected any call for a temporary ceasefire. Instead, Tehran is seeking a comprehensive end to conflict across the Middle East, Saeed Khatibzadeh told reporters today. That includes fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, currently paused on the first full day of a shaky 10-day ceasefire.
“We are not accepting any temporary ceasefire,” Khatibzadeh said on the sidelines of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum hosted by Turkey’s Foreign Affairs Ministry. Any end to the fighting must include all conflict zones “from Lebanon to the Red Sea,” he added, describing it as a “red line” for Iran.
The cycle of violence “should end here once and for all,” Khatibzadeh continued, according to Al Jazeera.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) said it is ready to resume fighting if needed.
The Army and the IRGC have their “finger on the trigger” and are “prepared to deliver a powerful, destructive, and regret-inducing response to any aggressive or criminal action by the US-Israeli enemy and their allies against the Iranian nation,” the IRGC said Friday.
As we noted earlier in this story, the leaders of nearly three dozen nations met – mostly virtually – at a conference in Paris today to discuss the future of the Strait of Hormuz.
Co-chaired by French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, the conference on the Initiative for Maritime Navigation in the Strait of Hormuz looked at ways of protecting shipping after the fighting ends.
Starmer said the U.K. and France will lead a multinational mission to “protect freedom of navigation” in the Strait as soon as conditions permit. He added that the mission would be “strictly peaceful and defensive,” with the aim of reassuring commercial shipping and supporting mine clearance efforts.
Starmer invited other countries to join, saying that roughly a dozen countries had committed to contributing assets.
Kaja Kallas, European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission, said leaders also discussed ensuring that Iran imposes no tolls on passage through the Strait.
“Any pay-for-passage scheme will set a dangerous precedent for global maritime routes,” she stated on X. “Iran has to abandon any plan to levy transit fees. Europe will play its part in restoring the free flow of energy and trade, once a ceasefire takes hold.”
Kallas added that the EU’s Aspides naval mission is already operating in the Red Sea “and can be quickly strengthened to protect shipping across the region. This could be the fastest way to provide support.”
Yesterday, a spokesman for Aspides told us that there were no changes in its mission.
Under international law, transit through waterways like the Strait of Hormuz must remain open and free of charge. This is what leaders made clear in their call on reopening the Strait today.
Any pay-for-passage scheme will set a dangerous precedent for global maritime routes.… pic.twitter.com/Jeufv4hQou
Reports of Iranian gunboats opening fire on a tanker in strait, after Tehran said it is closing the waterway until the US lifts the blockade of its ports.
Published On 18 Apr 202618 Apr 2026
Iran says it has closed the Strait of Hormuz again, calling the decision a response to a continued blockade of its ports by the United States.
The Iranian military on Saturday said control of the strategic waterway, through which 20 percent of the global oil flows, has “returned to its previous state”, with reports saying Iranian gunboats fired at a merchant vessel as it attempted to cross.
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The closure of the strait came hours after it was reopened, with more than a dozen commercial ships passing through the waterway, after a US-mediated 10-day ceasefire deal was reached between Israel and Lebanon.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Saturday said in a statement, cited by the Iranian media, that the ongoing US blockade of Iranian ports represented “acts of piracy and maritime theft”, adding that the control over Hormuz is “under the strict management and control of the armed forces”.
“Until the US restores full freedom of navigation for vessels travelling from Iran to their destinations and back, the status of the Strait of Hormuz will remain tightly controlled and in its previous condition,” it said.
By 10:30 GMT on Saturday, no fewer than eight oil and gas tankers had crossed the strait, but at least as many ships appeared to have turned back, having begun to exit the Gulf, the AFP news agency reported.
The toing and froing over the strait cast doubt on US President Donald Trump’s optimism the day before, that a peace deal to end the US-Israel war on Iran was “very close”.
Trump had celebrated the reopening of the strait on Friday, but warned the US attacks would resume until Iran agreed to a deal, which included its nuclear programme.
“Maybe I won’t extend it,” Trump told reporters on board Air Force One about the temporary ceasefire agreement in place. “So you’ll have a blockade, and unfortunately we’ll have to start dropping bombs again.”
Asked whether a potential deal could be made in this short timeframe, Trump said: “I think it’s going to happen.”
But Iran says no date has been agreed for another round of peace talks, accusing the US of “betraying” diplomacy in all negotiations.
The conflicting and changing reports about the strait and how much freedom ships have to transit through it have deterred many vessels from crossing, according to John-Paul Rodrigue, a maritime shipping specialist at Texas A&M University.
“Ships have been attempting transit since the announcement, but it looks like many of them are heading back because the situation is unclear,” Rodrigue told Al Jazeera. “There is contradictory information being issued by all parties.”
Reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi said “uncertainty is the name of the game” as far as the Strait of Hormuz is concerned.
“Iran is looking for a comprehensive end to the war across the region, security assurances, sanctions relief, the unfreezing of frozen assets, regional relations – and on top of all of that – the nuclear dossier and Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium,” he said.
“But right now, uncertainty is the name of the game. The fragile situation makes it hard to talk about the possibility of successful negotiations down the road.”
Michael Shoebridge, Director of Strategic Analysis Australia, says the US may be forced to end its blockade of Iran in order to see the full reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
![HMS Cleopatra's Wasp helicopter, No.463, encountered an engine failure at high altitude during the blockade on the Port du Beira in 1971. A crash landing occurred at sea and the aircraft was recovered. [File image.]](https://i0.wp.com/www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Wasp_463_a-1777774554.jpg?w=640&ssl=1)
